It seems to me that the possibility of an accident is always present, waiting sometimes literally to trip you up. The home, ideally a place of comfort and relaxation is a minefield of traps for the unwary and where most accidents happen.
The danger of standing on a low stool is one that should not be underestimated. Not much can happen to you standing a few feet off the ground, right? In fact, overreaching and overconfidence can be your undoing, leading to a twisted ankle or worse. Best to invest in a reliable non slip stool and watch your step!
The stairs of course are a potential pitfall. Losing your balance at the top can have disastrous results. I have managed to fall upstairs rather than down! Feeling unsteady, I projected myself forwards, hitting my head on the wall, resulting in an impressive black eye.
It was difficult to explain the circumstances, to those kind or curious enough to ask. I had made a split-second decision that it was better to fall forwards rather than backwards. Fortunately, no lasting harm was done to my vision from this experience.
Scalding is a serious matter, as I discovered as a child when I tipped boiling water from the stove, onto my toes. Years later, pouring boiling water into the sink, I failed to remove a soaked t shirt from my skin, quickly enough to prevent scalding. The result was blisters again, the treatment of which, I was this time responsible. Foolishly I rubbed them, resulting not surprisingly, in several bleeding wounds on my stomach.
Feeling the need for outside assistance, I displayed these injuries to a pharmacist and inadvertently to some customers in a queue, to whom I apologised and accepted sympathy. The pharmacist did her best to look for suitable products for treatment, but in the end, I gave up and went to the Minor Injuries Unit.
A measurement was taken of the worst area, which although not huge, qualified as a serious scald, and required precautionary antibiotics, due to the location. Happily, after several trips to the Unit for dressings, all was well and in time the scars faded.
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